Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A Spoon Full of Post Racism

The Rev-elution
welcomes to the stage James Blackwell, Jr. Blackwell is a Master of History candidate
at North Carolina Central University where he is the Co-Chair of the African
Diaspora Studies Symposium and Treasure of the E.E. Thorpe Historians Society.
In his spare time, Blackwell makes mochas and other caffine pleasures at the Market Street
Coffeehouse on Ninth Street.In between
serving coffee and offering the shop great old school R&B music,
Blackwell indulges in profound conversations related to race relations in
America.

When Sen. Barack Obama was elected and became
President Barack Obama, a sense of joy swept over the nation.Americans felt as if they had climbed the
mountain top, and that the injustice which had defined the nation would be
swept away.This feeling, this sense was
labeled post racialism.It did not come
to past.The following morning many
realized that this was still America.For those who still were blinded the rise of the tea party sealed the
deal.Still, the reality which we live
in has not stop Hollywood from attempting to market the dream.

Since President
Obama has been in office many films have attempted to convince Americans that
things are better now.That racism is
dead, that we are all equal, that capitalism is there...even for the poor.42, attempted to do this as and was
successful in the box office.The biopic
of Jackie Robinsons life is complicated, why?Primarily, because it is a nice story which did happen.But the film is filled with notions that
success for AfricanAmericans can only
come through white acceptance.That when
one of us arrives, we all arrive.This
is dangerous because it allows people to ignore their own oppressive situations.

The latest film which is filled with we made it
propaganda, is The Butler.The film
looks visually appealing, so did 42.But
just like 42, it going to make people feel that things were bad then but they
are better now.This is not the case,
and it has never been the case.The film
is loosely based on the actual life of Eugene Allen.The movie is marketed as piece which
addresses the Civil Rights movements and ends withelection of President Obama.However, this was not the directors first
intention.

Director Lee Daniels stated "It wasn't until we
started shooting some of the atrocities that happened in the south that I
realized it was on another level." Seriously, this is in the same vain as
Django.Quentin Tarantino never knew
what the movie was going to be about until they started shooting.He pitched his film with no script.Daniels, had no intention of basing his film
on the Civil Right movement until they shot atrocities. Seriously.

I am not recommending that people do not see this
film.I am recommending that people
watch it with an open mind.Under no
circumstance should people watch this film and feel that we have arrived in a
post racial.In the past year there have
been numerous cases which rival that of Trayvon Martin.States across the south have enacted voter
suppression laws which put their predecessors to shame.We must ask ourselves, if we have made it,
what have we made it to.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina